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Back to recipes index
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Agnes Armstrong

MOHAWK RIVER SWEET
INGREDIENTS
​USA measurements
  • ⅔ cup shortening
  • 1 ⅔ cups granulated sugar 
  • 3 eggs, medium to large
  • 2 ⅓ cups sifted all-purpose flour 
  • ⅔ cup cocoa powder 
  • ¼ tsp baking powder 
  • 1 ¼ tsps baking soda 
  • 1 tsp salt 
  • 1 ⅓ cups water
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
Metric conversion
  • ​127 gm shortening
  • 333 gm granulated sugar
  • 3 eggs medium - large
  • 268 gm sifted all-purpose flour
  • 54 gm cocoa powder
  • 1 gm baking powder
  • 6 gm baking soda
  • 6 gm salt
  • 315 ml water
  • 5 ml vanilla extract
METHOD
  • Grease and flour (or use cocoa powder to coat) 2 layer pans (9 in/23cm diameter) or one oblong pan (9x13 in/23 cm x 32.5 cm)
  • Preheat oven to 350ºF [180ºC or gas 4] (moderate heat)
  • In a large bowl on the electric mixer, cream shortening and sugar together. Add eggs and beat until fluffy. 
  • In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  • Combine water and vanilla extract. 
  • Using low speed on mixer, add the dry ingredients and water in alternate stages until completely combined.
  • Pour into prepared baking pans.
  • Bake layers approximately 35 minutes, oblong pan 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  • Remove from oven and set on a wire rack for 5 to 10 minutes. Then turn out onto rack to cool.
    Frost with (recipe below) and decorate as desired.

Easy and Delicious Chocolate Frosting
INGREDIENTS
USA measurements
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (other flavor chips may be substituted)
⅓ cup evaporated milk (or heavy cream)
1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
Vanilla (or other extract) and salt, as desired

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
​
Metric conversion 
170 gm semi-sweet chocolate chips (other flavor chips may be substituted)
78 ml evaporated milk
180 gm confectioners' sugar
METHOD
  1. Sift confectioners’ sugar into a bowl and set aside.
  2. Mix the evaporated milk and chocolate chips together in a saucepan over low heat,c stirring onstantly, until melted and combined. Mixture should be thick and smooth.
  3. Remove from heat and slowly add the confectioners' sugar, stirring until completely combined. Add vanilla and salt, as desired.
  4. If the frosting is too thick to spread, add a few drops of evaporated milk at a time, stirring untilthe desired thickness is achieved. If it is too thin, add a spoon of confectioners’ sugar at a time, stirring until the desired thickness is achieved. 

    Makes enough to frost an oblong cake, two layers, or 24 cupcakes.

Agnes writes: 

 This chocolate cake became a specialty of mine when at age 15 I won a baking contest in Cranford, my New Jersey hometown. It has always been a hit at home and when I’ve shared it at parties, but never more so than when I first brought it to the home of my dear friends Donald Ingram and Eugene Tobey, after which it was in great demand. 

This couple loved to entertain at The River, their home on the banks of the scenic Mohawk River in upstate New York. For many years, they played host every Labor Day weekend (first weekend in September) to a large group of friends.The number of guests seemed to grow each year, until I was eventually making a cake to serve 100 or more. 

Picture
Agnes Armstrong with the famous Mohawk River Sweet to feed 100

AGNES ARMSTRONG began her musical studies with piano lessons at the age of four. She was appointed Sunday School pianist at 10, and started organ study when she was 12. Her life has focused around music ever since.

From an early age, she had felt the calling to be a church organist, and although that role has always been her primary commitment, over the years she has also served as a teacher, conductor, coach, and director. She has worked in opera companies, schools, and musical theatre. She has trained hundreds of private piano and organ students, taught classes in music theory and history, and directed stage productions, as well.

Holding advanced music degrees from the State University of New York, the College of Saint Rose, and New York University, Agnes is a performer, teacher, and scholar who has gained international recognition as an authority on 19th-century organs, organists, and organ music. Her extensive research and writings on the life and works of Parisian organist-composer Félix-Alexandre Guilmant and French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll have resulted in a busy schedule of concerts and lectures. She is a regular contributor to professional music journals.

Agnes's publications include an edition of the complete organ works of Ernest Chausson, a bilingual book on organist Joseph Bonnet, and Organ Loft Whisperings, the collected correspondence from Paris of 19th-century music journalist Fannie Edgar Thomas. Her CD recordings include the opus 60 Noëls of Alexandre Guilmant recorded in Helsinki, Finland; and Victorian Christmas (with baritone Eugene Tobey) recorded on the 1847 Ferris organ at Round Lake, New York.

As an active member of the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society, and the Association Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, she has served as a featured performer at conventions and a teacher at Pipe Organ Encounters for young organ students. Agnes Armstrong has concertized on distinguished pipe organs throughout the United States and Europe. She has performed in duo concerts with artists Thomas Murray, Will Headlee, and Donald Ingram, and has served as accompanist for choral groups, vocalists, and instrumentalists.

Agnes has also lectured on 19th-century music, with notable appearances at Yale University, the University of Michigan, and symposiums in France and Spain. Twice elected to the  National Council of the AGO, she also served three terms as President of the International Reed Organ Society. She has served as organist-choir director at two churches in upstate New York simultaneously for more than 40 years and recently celebrated her 50th anniversary as music director of St John’s Lutheran Church in Altamont. 

Picture
These afternoon parties always began with a musicale in the upper floor of the house, where the music room contained a pipe organ, harpsichord, and two pianos. The opening  number, performed by organist Don and bass-baritone Gene, was always Aaron Copland’s setting of the old American hymn, Shall We Gather By the River? Following were other performances by friends and colleagues. The final work presented was usually an eight-hand arrangement at two pianos of John Phillip Sousa’s The Stars and Stripes Forever, after which  everyone retired to the extremely generous buffet and bar. Edibles and libations prepared by the hosts were augmented by contributions from guests and liberally consumed by all. 

Nearly everyone in attendance had some connection to church music. Many were  organists, members of the AGO and OHS and other such professional societies. There were also choir singers, clergy, family, friends, work colleagues, neighbors, and just about any other type of associate one could name. We all looked forward to this jovial annual event, but Don and Gene announced that 2009 would mark their final such occasion. As the news spread throughout the gathering, disbelief became apparent. None of us wanted this delightful tradition to end. But if end it must, how could we possibly let our hosts know just how much we had appreciated their hospitality over all the years? 
​
During his long career as a church musician, Donald Ingram had been a champion of new music and commissioned many works from promising young composers. It occurred to me that a proper thanks might be a musical work commissioned to both Don and Gene, presented by the many friends who had enjoyed their kindnesses for all these years. So I asked a few colleagues for their help, and together we concocted a plan. However, first we needed to persuade our hosts to carry on for just one more year.
As it turned out, this was not as difficult as one might have imagined. Don and Gene were also feeling torn about the idea of ending their long tradition, and gave in easily, agreeing to one last Labor Day party in the following year. Immediately, friends sprang into covert action. 

With another organist colleague, Barbara Adler, I formed a self-appointed committee and met with our dear friend, composer Alfred Fedak, to conceive a suitable work for a commission. Once our ideas were in place and a price agreed upon, we set about tracking down the several  hundred people who had attended these parties to solicit their financial support. Happily, the response was overwhelming, and the project was well underway. Musical colleagues were  tapped for the premiere performance, and a secret rehearsal was held in the music room at The River to prepare while Don and Gene were out of town.  Thus it was that during the final Labor Day gala on September 5, 2010, A Mohawk River Suite was presented to Don and Gene, who were fitted with gold paper crowns and set into comfortable thrones to hear the first presentation by these guest performers: Agnes Armstrong and Todd Sisley, piano;  Barbara Adler, harpsichord;  Alfred Fedak, organ;  Karen Klevanosky, flute;  Susan Fedak, Rand Reeves, Anne Turner, singers.
    As the composer has described this work, “A Mohawk River Suite was intended as sociable entertainment. Several of its movements are certainly humorous, even irreverent, and meant to raise a smile. But other parts of the work might well be useful in church services: the suite is, after all, based upon a beloved hymn. In its original format, the work consisted of 10 brief sections, the final movement being the “Quodlibet on Local and River Themes,” a pastiche  of musical references to rivers and the nearby Erie Canal, together with the Shaker song Simple  Gifts.”  The suite has now been performed numerous times in a wide variety of venues: concert halls, churches, community social halls, and nursing homes. It continues to be in demand and well-received.  All this and a magnificent chocolate cake, too. What more could one wish for?   
 — Agnes Armstrong
A Mohawk River Suite 
Difficulty: moderately easy
Available from Selah Publishing, Catalog no. 160-926 (Full score and parts) 
​Price $25 (U.S.) $35-Spiral-bound   

​
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